Snap’s Spectacles making Lifelogging sexy again?

Snapchat has been ruling the US smartphone market in terms of engagement, especially in the teenager segment. They recently launched their new product, Spectacles- wearable sunglasses with cameras. With the help of Augmented Reality, they are taking the photo & video experience to the next level!

Lot’s of comparisons are being made to the Google Glass, though they are quite different products. The Google Glass tried to do lot of things- trying to replace your smartphone. But the Spectacles are designed for one clear purpose, making photography fun! (Intended to be something like a Toy)

We have seen the demise of many lifelogging cameras over the past few years- the Narrative Clip being killed of most recently. The main problems have been managing the lifelogged data and the user experience. Snapchat already had made lifelogging interesting with the 10 second videos & the 24-hour disappear, story format. (Which too many companies are trying to copy) The Spectacles is really enhancing this experience, since you can now lifelog without your phone & anywhere you want. (Robert Scoble chose the shower) This is a similar experience that GoPro is offering. Although, the GoPro is targeted more towards the adventure sports niche with a more refined camera.

Lifelog with Instant- Automatically keep track of the time spent on your phone, while travelling, at places, while sleeping & on fitness activities

The best part about the Spectacle is that they managed to maintain the simplicity and fun experience of Snapchat. Right from the vending-machine retail experience to the packaging and overall product. This is what lifelogging products lack today- the overall simplicity.

With the ability to save snap stories within the app, Snapchat has become a great place to lifelog memories and also contextual data through photo filters like speed, location, emotions and text.

Spectacles has been able to turn into a major hype, with people lining up at their pop-up vending machines and people selling them on eBay for thousands of dollars more than the actual price of $130. The question is that who is it’s target audience? Rich teenagers or middle aged geeks in Silicon Valley? It will be interesting to see in the next few months who it’s primary users will be and also how the Spectacles are going to be used. But one thing is for sure, there’s a good chance that Snap’s Spectacles may end up making lifelogging sexy again!